Few Irish towns get more rain than Bearna: 1,325 mm a year
High summer brings afternoon highs near 19.1°C. December is the wettest month, April the driest. By July afternoons alone, it runs cooler than 94% of Irish towns. Frost greets about 41 mornings a year, so leave time to clear the car.
Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages for the town’s own square kilometre.
A year in Bearna at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Bearna’s climate
Compared with Irish towns, with its place among towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ in County Galway beside it.
What a year in Bearna feels like
Typical highs and lows by season and by month, from Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages.
41 frosts and 3 days of 25°C a year
Air frosts come mostly from October to April, most of all in March (about 9).
Air frosts by month
Average nights below 0°C
Counted from Athenry’s daily readings, 2010–2020, 25 km east of Bearna: Met Éireann publishes these for its stations only.
About 1,325 mm of rain a year
December is the wettest month and April the driest. 2nd wettest of 21 towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ in County Galway. The wettest month brings about 2.1 times the rain of the driest. Athenry records 1 mm or more on about 193 days a year, and 10 mm on about 39.
Rain by month
Millimetres
Heating a home in Bearna
83% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: November to April.
Degree days add up how far each day’s mean temperature falls below 15.5°C over a year.
Living with Bearna’s climate
What the averages mean for a garden, a free afternoon and a bad-weather day.
In half of years the last air frost at Athenry comes by 22 April and the first by 4 November: about 196 frost-free days in between.
Highs of 17–27°C with lows of 8°C or more: Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep.
Parks & trails →Averages smooth over storms, floods and heatwaves; Bearna’s hazards page covers the risks.
Flood & hazards →Met Éireann’s nearest station: Athenry
Athenry is 25 km east of Bearna, the nearest of the 25 synoptic stations where Met Éireann records the weather around the clock. The station stands 40 m above sea level; Bearna’s centre, 15 m.
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Air frosts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.5°C | 2.5°C | 131 mm | 7.8 |
| February | 9.0°C | 2.3°C | 112 mm | 6.8 |
| March | 10.3°C | 2.2°C | 90 mm | 8.5 |
| April | 13.4°C | 4.1°C | 64 mm | 2.5 |
| May | 15.6°C | 6.7°C | 74 mm | 0.5 |
| June | 17.9°C | 9.5°C | 79 mm | 0.0 |
| July | 18.8°C | 11.2°C | 109 mm | 0.0 |
| August | 18.2°C | 10.7°C | 118 mm | 0.0 |
| September | 16.8°C | 9.1°C | 107 mm | 0.1 |
| October | 13.8°C | 6.3°C | 111 mm | 1.4 |
| November | 10.3°C | 3.5°C | 124 mm | 5.7 |
| December | 8.7°C | 2.6°C | 150 mm | 7.7 |
| Year | 13.4°C | 5.9°C | 1,268 mm | 41 |
The table is Athenry’s own record, averaged over 2010–2020 from its daily readings (ours, not a Met Éireann table). The temperatures and rain elsewhere on this page are Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at Bearna itself; the frosts and degree days are this station’s.
How Bearna compares
Against the 321 Irish towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, each read from Met Éireann’s grid at its own centre, and its place among towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500+ in County Galway.
Warmer than it used to be
Bearna’s 1991–2020 average is 0.2°C warmer than 1981–2010’s. The biggest change is in February (+0.3°C).
A year’s rain is 1,325 mm, up 6% from 1,252 mm.
Change by month
The two periods share 1991–2010, so the gap is a decade’s step, not the change between two separate 30-year periods.
Bearna and its neighbours
Every town next door is within half a degree of Bearna in January and July. Choose a measure to recolour the map; tap a town for its climate.
The towns next door, side by side
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 19 km: a hill, a valley or the sea can make a real difference over a short distance.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bearna | 19.1°C | 3.3°C | 1,325 mm |
| Knocknacarra 3.5 km | 19.0°C about the same | 3.0°C about the same | 1,336 mm |
| Salthill 5.3 km | 19.3°C about the same | 3.2°C about the same | 1,282 mm |
| Taylor's Hill 5.6 km | 19.1°C about the same | 3.0°C about the same | 1,307 mm |
| Rahoon 5.7 km | 19.2°C about the same | 3.0°C about the same | 1,312 mm |
| Newcastle 6.4 km | 19.5°C about the same | 3.1°C about the same | 1,290 mm |
| Dangan 6.4 km | 19.1°C about the same | 3.0°C about the same | 1,322 mm |
Each town’s colour is Met Éireann’s 1 km grid at its own centre, so towns a few kilometres apart can differ.
Bearna weather by month
Average daily high and low, mean temperature and rain, 1991–2020, for the town itself (Met Éireann’s 1 km grid).
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.9°C | 3.3°C | 6.1°C | 132 mm |
| February | 9.4°C | 3.2°C | 6.3°C | 109 mm |
| March | 10.9°C | 4.0°C | 7.5°C | 99 mm |
| April | 13.2°C | 5.4°C | 9.3°C | 74 mm |
| May | 15.7°C | 7.8°C | 11.8°C | 79 mm |
| June | 17.9°C | 10.3°C | 14.1°C | 84 mm |
| July | 19.1°C | 12.2°C | 15.7°C | 100 mm |
| August | 18.9°C | 12.0°C | 15.5°C | 118 mm |
| September | 17.4°C | 10.4°C | 13.9°C | 107 mm |
| October | 14.3°C | 7.8°C | 11.1°C | 128 mm |
| November | 11.2°C | 5.4°C | 8.3°C | 144 mm |
| December | 9.2°C | 3.6°C | 6.4°C | 151 mm |
| Year | 13.9°C | 7.1°C | 10.5°C | 1,325 mm |
How much a month can swing
December swings the most: over 11 years its average ranged from −1.0°C (2010) to 8.1°C (2015). August is the most reliable, staying within 2.2°C.
Where Bearna’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast: the town’s own from Met Éireann’s grid, the frosts and degree days from its nearest station.
- Temperature and rain: Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid (Climatological Notes 22 and 23), read at the grid point nearest Bearna’s population centre (0.2 km away).
- Weather station: the nearest of Met Éireann’s 25 synoptic stations, Athenry, 25 km east, from Met Éireann’s station list.
- Frosts and degree days: Athenry’s daily readings from Met Éireann (clidata.met.ie), 2010–2020, averaged by month: a month counts when 27 or more of its days were read (rain and sunshine: every day), and a figure needs 10 such years.
- Then and now: Met Éireann’s 1981–2010 averages on the same 1 km grid, at the same point.
- Altitudes: the town’s ground from the Copernicus GLO-30 surface model (a few metres high in built-up places), the station’s from Met Éireann.
- Comparisons: every Irish town and city neighbourhood of 2,500 or more, read the same way; the five city totals are left out.
- Not on this page: sunshine at this station, snow and wind. Met Éireann publishes none of them on a grid; the frosts here are its nearest station’s, not the town’s own.
Met Éireann 30-year averages · Met Éireann open data. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Questions about Bearna’s climate
How warm does Bearna get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 19.1°C.
How cold does Bearna get in winter?
February nights average 3.2°C, the coldest of the year. At Athenry, the nearest Met Éireann station, the air drops below 0°C on about 41 nights a year (2010–2020).
How much rain does Bearna get?
About 1,325 mm a year, more than 95% of Irish towns. December is the wettest month (151 mm) and April the driest (74 mm).
How sunny is it?
Met Éireann publishes its 1991–2020 sunshine averages for its weather stations only, not on the 1 km grid this page reads, so there is no sunshine figure for Bearna itself. Its nearest synoptic station is Athenry.
Are these figures for Bearna itself?
Partly. The temperatures and rain are Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages on its 1 km grid, read at Bearna’s population centre; the frosts, degree days and year-to-year swings are those of Athenry, 25 km east, the nearest of its synoptic stations.
Where do these figures come from?
Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 climate averages, published as maps of Ireland in 1 km squares (Climatological Notes 22 and 23); the page reads the square at Bearna’s population centre. They are 30-year averages, not a forecast.
Copyright Met Éireann. Source: www.met.ie. This data is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Met Éireann does not accept any liability whatsoever for any error or omission in the data, their availability, or for any loss or damage arising from their use. This material has been modified from the original: TownRatings reads the 1 km grid at each town’s population centre. Today’s forecast for Bearna →
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).